GST Constitutional Amendment Bill: What is India Inc saying

GST Constitutional Amendment Bill was unanimously passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. 

PM Narendra Modi said, “This reform will promote the ‘Make In India’ campaign will support in export and thus will boost employment while provind enhanced revenue."

Here's what India Inc feels about the GST Bill:

Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services said, "GST bill passed by upper house is a game changing, path breaking and the most important reform since independence. Look forward to an exciting time ahead. The country is on the way towards double digit growth.”

“GST holds the potential to boost economic activity substantially, improve the government’s revenue, and help achieve better transmission of prices. It would enable more seamless and efficient crediting of taxes paid on capital goods, which would then become 12-14% cheaper, increasing demand for them, raising investment, and hence, economic growth,”added Oswal.

Nihal Kothari, Executive Director, Khaitan & Company said,"Today is a historic day as Parliament has passed Constitution Amendment Bill for introduction of GST which will make India a truly common economic market. It will accelerate economic growth. The impact on each sector however will be different. The real challenge now will be to have rational GST law and Rules to ensure that objective of GST is met. Equally important is that tax rate should be moderate to avoid inflation."     

While Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India  said, “I am pleased that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha today. It is a positive development and I hope the Government will implement this long pending reform by April 1, 2017. The Government’s idea of a single tax regime is crucial to improve ease of doing business in India and address the ambiguities of the current indirect tax landscape, proving beneficial for the economy, at large.”

Sachin Menon – Partner and Head, Indirect tax at KPMG in India said," The passing of constitution amendment bill is a milestone in the history of India's economic reforms. The GST will significantly reduce the generation of black money and make India competitive especially in manufacturing, in the global market"

" This  moment in time which will remembered as a step towards creating more efficient and resurgent India. The GST concept of destination based consumption tax, to a great extent, will address uneven growth of Indian states as the tax revenue will be distributed based on consumption,"Menon said.

The bill is expected to start its operating from April 1, 2017.

For which Sachin Menon said, " With the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha, the action will now shift to the corporate world. Due to the uncertainty on the fate of GST, many of the companies remain unprepared for the implementation of GST. The challenge before many, is how to get ready to implement GST, before 1st April, 2017"